vendor sales tactics

This week, we will take a “mid-point” check and do a brief review of the sales tactics and scams used by some ERP or SAP system integrator salespeople. After this short overview, we will address some additional ways to ensure you get the most from your SAP RFP efforts.

After this short review of the sales tactics and some additional techniques for dealing with them, we will continue this series. The next posts will cover the following topics:

  • Qualifying vendors,

  • Final considerations,

  • Negotiation tactics,

  • Licensing considerations, and

  • Contract signing.

This brief review can be seen in more detail in the following posts:

ERP Vendor Sales Tactics (Review)

In the previous posts, we covered tactics that ERP and SAP system integrators routinely use to convince you to part with your money:

  • Relationship building… “Let’s be friends.”
  • End runs… “Get to the key decision maker.”
  • A stranger bringing in food, offering dinner at fancy restaurants, or offering any other “gifts” that inhibit objective decision making.
  • Subtle (or not so subtle) introduction of doubt about competitors or other products.
  • Alligator mouth sales that refuse to listen.
  • The Survey Demo. Asking “what do you want to see?” while failing to address the specifics of the RFP. Always trying to sell you something, whether you asked for it or not.
  • “My manager must meet your manager,” or attempting to gain backdoor decision maker face time
  • Things not always being what they appear to be. Beware of vaporware, custom screens, and third-party products that are not disclosed as part of the overall demonstrated solution.
  • Changing the subject, or attempting to distract from the questions or key issues that are being raised.
  • The unload the bus approach. Bringing in an “army” of people to “work” the decision-making crowd

Additional Methods to Manage Your SAP – ERP System Integrator RFP Processes

As you enter the proposal process for your ERP vendors, you can do a number of things to manage it. The better you manage the process (rather than the ERP vendors who are presenting), the more likely you are to make a good decision. The entire goal here is to set the stage that you are in control, rather than allowing the ERP system integrator to control the process.

1. Get rid of the fluff. Set a slide presentation limitation of no more than fifty slides for the l presentation, and no more than another fifty slides for an Appendix of supporting information. If a vendor cannot capture the important items to your company and its results in fifty slides (rather than touting how great they are), they may not be the best fit. This limitation forces them to narrow the focus of their presentation to what is really important.

2. Your RFP should spell out explicitly that customer qualifications and customer references can only come from the specific resumes of the consultants who will be on the project. Ignore their stories of all the great customers they worked with. If the customer list doesn’t represent the skills and talent they are proposing for your project, why do you care who else they have done business with? For more background and understanding, please see FIXING Stupid SAP Vendor – Partner Selection RFI – RFP Processes. Ensure that the vendor knows any deviation here will be scored harshly or may disqualify them.

3. Include a provision in the RFP that unverifiable claims of business benefit will be scored harshly. If a statistic or a reference to benefit is noted anywhere in the vendor’s presentation, whether on paper or during oral presentation, a verifiable source must support it. If it is not, then score it against them. Vendors routinely promote questionable or unverifiable results and throw numbers around to try to persuade you.

If a vendor claims they helped company “X” gain “Y” benefit, then ask for a verifiable source for the benefit, how the baseline for the benefit was established, and how the change was measured. Do not accept any double talk here. Any claims where they cannot do this should be considered completely unverifiable, or in the worst case a blatant lie.

4. Ensure your RFP asks the vendor to describe their process for handling less than optimal consulting resources. Ask them to note in writing what their approach and policies are on credits for less-than-optimal resources. In this provision of the RFP, explicitly state that this section will be scored heavily or even disqualify them if their policy is not adequate.

Consulting fraud, and the number of “fake” consultants with great-looking resumes, is frighteningly rampant. Worse still, many of the system integrators are well aware of this and do not take strong measures to address and correct it. If they provide junior resources or even contractors who are fakes, then they should pay the price.

Conclusion on the ERP Vendor Sales Tactics During Their Proposal

The ERP vendor RFI and RFP processes, including their presentation, are like the foundation of a new building. If you build the foundation properly and solidly, you have a good base to start your construction project. However, if you take too many shortcuts, or do not exercise enough diligence to ensure a good footing, good materials, and the right measurements, the building you end up with will not be what you expected when you start.

Take the time and effort on the due diligence in the early stages of your ERP or SAP vendor selection, and it will pay dividends later on. Ignore it, and you may have a disaster in the making.

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